Verity and Sydney Kent are a formidable pair and when they team up in solving a mystery, there are no holds barred and you do know that the end result will be exciting (apart from being solved of course).

1919 WWI is over but dangers abound and the Secret Service is still alive and kicking with political intrigue everywhere. Mystery and murder seem to follow Verity and when her friend Ada's husband is found shot dead in his own house, after a strange dinner party where his wife points a revolver at him and says she wants to kill him, there is little doubt who the murderer could be.

Between Inspector Thoreau and Verity it is decided early on that the facts are not what they seem and a plot is afoot to make use of Ada to screen the actual killer. Unfolding a plot which goes back decades and involves many of the aristocracy is not going to be good for politics and many a peer will use his powers to shut the investigation down.

Unfolding the details of the murder, going back into various scenarios seemingly unconnected to the main the story is descriptive and there is a lot of detail. Particularly of the historical kind. I loved it!

The settings are descriptive whether it is the Isle of Wight, France or London of 1919. The main characters are strong willed and so very clever. Add to that the history of the period and you have yourselves a wonderful story.

Sidney and Verity have a complicated marriage. They are rebuilding a trust that was destroyed by secrets. In many ways, this makes them much more likable and certainly believable. While “Penny for your Secrets” is readable as a standalone, I think that knowing the background offered by the previous two books in the series makes it more enjoyable.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Penny for Your Secrets by Anna Lee Huber is the third book in Verity Kent series but can be read as a standalone.

In this installment Verity and Sidney's relationship is slowly healing as they have taken some time to work on in.

As soon as they get back to London they attend a dinner party where it is obvious that Verity's long time acquaintance Ada, a commoner who has married Marquess of Rockham, is clearly having marital problems.
That same night Verity gets summoned to Ada's residence as the Marquess is found murdered.

Not long after former colleague of Verity's come begging her to look into her sister's death as it has been ruled out as a robbery gone wrong but she feels there is more to it.

Unable to refuse Verity accepts both requests for help never imagining that two cases might have anything in common.
She soon discovers many shady characters and the investigation turns out to be much more complicated than the simple case of murders.

Very intense story with a mystery within a mystery, which is always a treat. Verity becomes more sure of herself with each case she solves. I like that she has her husband's support and they are now a crime solving duo.
This series depicts a aftermath of war very vividly and realistically and the huge impact it has even in peace. Many side characters are devastated by the war and book is brimming with sad stories.

The book is steady paced and really well written yet for some reason it takes me a long time to finish it. Maybe the horror they went through affects me more than I realize.

Penny for Your Secrets is an enigma wrapped in mystery hidden in a puzzle. The various mystery storylines were so well done that I couldn't put the book down. Who did kill Ada's husband, and why? In the meantime, Verity is investigating the murder of her friend's half-sister at home. Why was someone who worked as a censor for the post office during war time killed, was it her job or simply a home invasion? And that's just for starters.

Verity and Miles are also getting closer in this story. I still wish she was with Max and find it frustrating that he keeps popping up (please don't make him into a bad guy; I am still hoping that Verity winds up with him instead). The Miles part of the story is always the weakest for me, they keep going in circles as the mystery moves forward. We keep being reminded that Verity has other options but she never does anything about them.

This book, the third in the series, is its strongest installment yet. Verity is a fantastic heroine and the post-WWI setting never lacks for intrigue. Recommended for mystery readers, particularly for those who enjoy espionage and intrigue.

I love these books! So enjoyable. I enjoyed the continued development of the characters, and the evolving nature of Verity’s role in the secret service. But, this mystery felt like a lot of gear grinding that went nowhere. It also seems like a recurring villain has now been established, which I’m not sure I like. This person isn’t someone you love to hate it, which makes things less fun.

I still enjoy the setting and the character relationships, the latter of which is the strongest element. The series is such an excellent paean to the Interwar Period that it’s hard not to revel in these stories. I really like them. Highly recommended.

I received a copy of this title from the publisher for an honest review. Penny for Your Secrets is the third title featuring Verity Kent, set during the period immediately following the first World War. This book picks up several months after the last book; Verity and her husband Sidney spent some time alone focusing on their relationship before returning to London. After attending a dinner party held by Verity's friend Ada and her husband the Marquess of Rockham, Verity receives a call from Ada asking her to help prove she didn't kill her husband after he was found shot in the library. Ada and Rockham had a rocky marriage and Ada had threatened her husband with a gun during the dinner party. Verity agrees and soon finds herself caught up in trying to unravel who might want the marquess dead. In addition to this mystery, Verity is asked by a friend from during the war to investigate her half-sister's death; she is sure that there is more to the death than a interrupted robbery.

Both mysteries are well done as always, and there are enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing. The thing that I love most about this series is the way the reader feels like they are part of the time period. Anna Huber has clearly done her research and it shows in all the details she includes in the book. The almost frantic need by Verity and her friends to be entertained and avoid thinking about all the deaths of soldiers during the war and those that weren't lucky enough to come back in one piece. I really like the attention given to Sidney and the guilt he clearly struggles with because he came home when so many of the soldiers he commanded weren't as lucky. Verity is torn between making Sidney face his guilt and staying silent and not forcing the issue.

I can't wait for the next title in the series as the events in this book will clearly come into play in the next. Ms. Huber has crafted another winner and is at the top of her game with this series.

Anna Lee Huber hooked me as a reader with her Lady Darby series and the damaged but resilient character of her heroine Kiera. However, Verity Kent is quickly becoming my one of my favorites as well. Much for the same reason--she is smart, intelligent, tough, and flawed. So is her husband and so are the people in her orbit.

Huber’s historical cozies, Verity Kent, set in post World War I Britain, and Lady Darby, set in the British Isles of the 1830’s, are smart, historically accurate, and examine the human heart and its propensity for good and evil in ways that avoid the glibness of most series. Characters are three dimensional human beings who suffer from the pain of their pasts yet fight for better futures. Trauma and PTSD are examined with truth and sympathy. The mysteries are dense and multi-layered and sometimes have no neat resolutions.

Penny for Your Secrets is no exception. Verity, who worked for the British government as a spy during World War I, and Sydney Kent, her military husband who has returned to her from the presumed dead, are continuing to work out their relationship as they work together to solve the murder of an aristocrat and how it connects to the subsequent murder of the sister of one of Verity’s wartime colleagues. Familiar characters return and new ones introduced, including an opponent who promises to darken the Kents' future adventures.

Highly recommended.

Full Disclosure--NetGalley and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

Verity and Sidney are definitely growing on me! I also love that they’re discussing PTSD, survivor’s guilt, and losing themselves in alcohol to deal with pain and loss: real things that actually happen. And I’m glad that they continue to bring in people from Ver & Sid’s past for them to have to deal with.

"England, 1919. In Anna Lee Huber’s latest mystery, former Secret Service agent Verity Kent is finding that life after wartime offers its own share of danger...

The Great War may be over, but for many, there are still obstacles on the home front. Reconciling with her estranged husband makes Verity sympathetic to her friend Ada’s marital difficulties. Bourgeois-bred Ada, recently married to the Marquess of Rockham, is overwhelmed trying to navigate the ways of the aristocracy. And when Lord Rockham is discovered shot through the heart with a bullet from Ada’s revolver, Verity fears her friend has made a fatal blunder.

While striving to prove Ada’s innocence, Verity is called upon for another favor. The sister of a former Secret Service colleague has been killed in what authorities believe was a home invasion gone wrong. The victim’s war work - censoring letters sent by soldiers from the front - exposed her to sensitive, disturbing material. Verity begins to suspect these two unlikely cases may be linked. But as the connections deepen, the consequences - not just for Verity, but for Britain - grow more menacing than she could have imagined."

I love mysteries that delve into the secrets and obfuscations that are necessary during wartime but have untoward consequences!

3rd in a series this one probably has the most depth. It takes place right after WW1 and tells a dark and sad story of life after the war and the consequences of PTSD. Well plotted with a great mystery, this was the best in the series so far. I am not sure I like Verity, the main character, but I think maybe she is growing on me. Overall, an enjoyable read. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced readers copy for review.

Three books in, I'm still trying to decide how I feel about Verity and Sidney Kent. They're intriguing, but I'm not sure I actually like them. That being said, I did enjoy this latest installment in the series. I really like Huber's writing style and I think she does a very good job of conveying the social instability that followed WWI in Britain. I also appreciate her treatment of the PTSD and other mental health issues WWI veterans suffered from after the horrors of the trenches and the struggles of their families to understand and find a way to help them. I look forward to seeing how the plot lines that began in this novel develop in the next one.

The period just after World War I is a frenetic time. Everybody seemed to be struggling with survivors guilt and deep, deep sorrow – they all probably knew more people who had died than who had lived. The times were stressful with the soldiers returning home and trying to resurrect some semblance of a normal life and the women who had flocked into the workforce to fill the gaps left by the men being forced out of jobs they had not only filled but excelled at. Is it any wonder that everybody turned to the clubs and dancing and drinking to fill the hours and avoid the pain.

Verity and Sidney Kent are two of those frenetic people trying to get past the guilt of surviving. Sidney is particularly hard hit because he feels so very much guilt – I won’t tell you a lot about it, but you’ll learn when you read the story. As we know from the first two books in the series, Sidney was declared dead and was left in a ditch. Somehow, he managed to survive and went into hiding in order to uncover a nest of viperous traitors. In the meantime, Verity was mourning him deeply and burying her sorrows in drink. She’d worked for the Secret Service during the war and was about as shell-shocked as Sidney. In the first book, This Side of Murder, Verity was drawn into a case where she discovered Sidney was still alive. Now, Verity and Sidney are slowly trying to patch up their marriage and make things work between them.

Verity and Sidney spent a very tense evening at the home of Verity’s friend Ada and her husband, the Marquess of Rockham. Everyone could tell that Ada and her husband had been at odds with each other and neither behaved very well. Verity and Sidney left early, only to be awoken by Ada requesting them to come right away because Rockham had been shot. Verity is sure that her friend can’t be the guilty party, but the police seem to be heading in that direction. Verity can’t do anything else, so she starts to investigate on her own – well – with Sidney.

Not long after Ada comes to Verity, another friend, Irene Shaw, comes to Verity about the death of her half-sister. The police are treating her sister’s death as if it was the result of a robbery, but Irene doesn’t believe that because nothing was taken.

As Verity and Sidney investigate the two cases, they soon come to suspect they might be related – but how and who or what is the common denominator. Their investigations take them back to France and on to the Isle of Wight – and introduces a master manipulator who will probably be a villain in a few future books at least. I hope not too many because I really don’t like him and I want him gone.

The story is masterfully written and the research is impeccable. From the first page, the reader is drawn into that time and place and doesn’t leave until hours after the last page has been read. The story is so compelling that you feel those repressed emotions, the grief, the guilt that Sidney and the other survivors feel. You also feel Verity’s anxiety for Sidney when he constantly closes her out and won’t talk.

I can definitely recommend this well-written, well-researched story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I was already an Anna Lee Huber fan from reading the Lady Darby series, but I find that I enjoy the Verity Kent series more. Mystery, espionage, social commentary... The Verity Kent series deals sympathetically with the "lost generation," young people during and after WWI, and their frenetic, pleasure-seeking reaction to the years of death and uncertainty during the war. Social changes figure fairly strongly in Penny for Your Secrets, as a bourgeois woman has married into the aristocracy and struggles with the expectations of not only her husband but also his servants. When the husband is found dead, and the wife suspected of murder, Verity strives to prove her innocent, while also being involved in investigating the death of a woman who may have been killed for her war work as a mail censor. Quite a lot going on here, but I had no problem keeping everything/everyone straight, and I thoroughly enjoyed the story.

I will always and forever stan Verity and Sidney. While they each deal with their demons, they still find time to play investigator for various people. Verity is thrust into a murder investigation when her friend Ada's husband is murdered. Did Ada do it? Did her new lover? Or was there something more involved?

While investigating one murder, a friend from Verity's secret service days comes looking for help in solving her half sister's murder. Are the two murders somehow related? Or is just an unlucky coincidence in Verity's life.

I appreciate Sidney, even when dealing with severe PTSD, stands by his wife and offers to help her. Most husbands during that time probably wouldn't enjoy a wife who deals with murderers. I also appreciate the real life work of Verity coming to terms with Sidney's return and his PTSD that he can't quite talk about. I can only imagine how rough that might be on a family.

I will always come back for more of Verity's adventures, and I hope to read more in the future!

This is a new to me author, and this book is the third in this Verity Kent series. While this book can be read without having read the previous two books, I would recommend starting with the first book to understand the characters better. I plan on getting the other two books. I enjoyed reading this historical mystery and getting to know Verity Kent and her sleuthing to solve a murder. While this is a mystery, it also conveys the human nature of people and the effect war has on the survivors and their families. Thank you to the publisher for the ARC.

Penny for Your Secrets (A Verity Kent Mystery Book 3) by Anna Lee Huber is a Historical Mystery set in 1919 England. Verity was a Secret Service Agent in the Great War. This book continues with her adventures, mysteries and romance.
I love a great series that builds on past experiences of exciting characters with each new book. Historical facts and small details including the colors of clothing add so much to this book. The murders, motives, plots, witnesses and suspects are elements that keep the reader involved. Verity and husband Sidney must search for information to find the killer or killers. Were the murders committed because of love affairs and marriages gone wrong or to hide criminal activity. It’s never who you think it is, it could be almost anyone. Ms. Hubers writing has a flow that makes her books a pleasing read. I have enjoyed each book and series Ms. Huber has written but I find the Verity Kent series especially thrilling.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. I appreciate the opportunity and thank the author and publisher for allowing me to read, enjoy and review this book. 5 Stars

Thanks to Net Galley for the latest release of the Verity Kent series. Penny for Your Secrets is the third book published in this series by Anna Lee Huber. This is the first book I have read in this series. I will definitely go back and read the first two in this series.
This book is set in late 1919 after the end of WWI. Anna Lee Huber has done excellent research on this time period. The attention to detail is noticeable.
Verity sets out to get to the bottom of the death of her friend's husband. While investigating the first matter, she is asked to investigate a second death. I did find the context of the second death more intriguing than the first one. Besides the mysteries, the relationship between Verity and her husband Sydney is highlighted. Huber does an excellent job of looking at how the men and women who survived the war continued to suffer.
I recommend this book without reservations.

First of all, I would like to thank Net Galley for sending an actual copy of this book. I am a huge fan of the Verity Kent mysteries, and I love having this to add to my bookshelf. The cover art is beautiful! This is the third installment of the Verity Kent mysteries, and I am hoping not the last. The writing is superb. In this case, Verity is called upon by her friend, Ada to help absolve her from being accused of murdering her husband. The setting is, per usually indicative of the times after the Great War, when people are recovering and healing. We are taken from the homes of the aristocracy to clubs where American Jazz plays and gin flows freely. As the story progresses, Verity discovers that the murder is just the tip of the iceberg and is actually entertained with several other murders and a cover-up. The story takes many twists and turns, but wraps everything up in an efficient manner. If you love mysteries, this book should be at the top of your list!

Another stellar entry in the Verity Kent series. I do believe these must be read in order otherwise I think they would be quite difficult to follow.

Verity Kent, who was in Intelligence in the Great War, is asked to help her acquaintance Ada when Ada's husband is murdered. The marriage had soured, and the circumstances point to Ada. But when Verity and her recently reappeared after being thought dead husband Sidney start to delve into the facts, all sorts of confusing information comes to light.

The plot is intriguing but a bit confusing, but the relationship between Verity and her husband and the descriptions of the trials faced by everyone after World War I are the meat of the story. I recommend this series. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This Side of Murder and Treacherous is the Night. The back story of this series is World War I. Readers learn more about Sidney’s experiences during that time and empathize with his difficulty in coping. Readers will also enjoy spending more time with this couple as they get to know one another better.

In this entry, Verity has two cases to solve. In one, a friend has been accused of murdering her husband. In the other, a friend from Verity’s WWI spy work, asks for her help in investigating the murder of her sister. The novel includes many settings including mansions and locations in France and England.

Readers know that the cases will be solved but how? Are they related? Do they relate to the war? Find out as you read this latest adventure .

Also, I want to comment on the cover. I think that it is really gorgeous.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this book in exchange for an honest review.